Crepey wattle and daub

[herbaceous]

At last! I get to use my thread title.

Over here, my hags.

I'm wondering how many other LA's have yet to break up for Easter? And wondering if that means that the second week of our holidays will mean wide empty spaces at otherwise packed kiddy attractions?

And, of course, commiserations to BTM. It's horrible having dementia confirmed, however strong one's suspicions previously. But don't feel bad - it has come on pretty suddenly, and if she's always been a bit doolally, probably started off further down the continuum than some, so the care assessor's verdict may have been unduly harsh. IYSWIM.

BTM, sorry to hear about your mum, that sounds tough, although good that drs will follow up on the tests and that home assessor has been already. Will pm you re clothes.

Sorry to hear about your Mum BTM - it all sounds very sad and very worrying.

Hope you enjoyed your pizza MI... I made asked ds2 to cook dinner and he reluctantly tore himself away from his facebooking revision amd made some rather delicious roast chicken thing

It was extraordinary weather here today - grey then bright blue skies then howling wind then hailstones then bright sunshine then pouring rain then grey again... exhausting just to watch!

Am on my own in East Angular with dcs and ddog while dh labours at the coalface in London. He's back tomorrow which will be nice - I very quickly get bored of being the only grown up in charge of everything. Would have been a spectacularly poor lone parent and am hugely admiring of anyone who's managed to do that.

I'm sorry to hear about your dm's diagnosis, BTM. Sounds like you have a competent bunch of professionals on the case, though.
MrsS, have you consulted an animal behaviourist? There is info about this and useful links on the RSPCA website. Find the right behaviourist and they may be a huge help. Vets often do not have the answers. I speak from experience. I once got a piece of advice from a behaviourist which made it possible for me to keep a dog that everyone (including 2 vets) said was a lost cause.
MI, I'm sorry to hear your df still has his head resolutely stuck in the sand.
Turns out my back probs aren't what my gp thought. I've been in some fearsome pain and haven't had a day off painkillers for three months. Giving up my circuits classes hasn't changed that. Am now on prescription meds and the physio has told me I probably have degenerative disc disease in the base of my spine. I've been managing my back pain myself for about 15 years and this is the first time it's got incapacitating, so I guess I've had a good run compared to some. It slightly complicates things in a way I don't need, though. Boo.
Wonder how Crem is doing. Hope no news is good news...

Shit Stropps, what is degenerative disc disease and what can they so for you? It sounds horrid you poor thing

Herbs I think it may vary a bit now schools can set their own hols but my friend said Kent haven't broken up yet.

Just had a lovely evening out with a dear old school friend. We were reminiscing about how we went to cider club and she said she hadn't realised it was alcoholic

Yes, thinking of Crem. And your mum, BTM. It's a shock for you even though expected in a way.

Stropps, poor you with your spine. Will you have to have a scan or something?

Queer weather here, too. The dog looks wonderful when wet, even more of a ruffian that you wouldn't let into your house. But I do. Mind you, last week in Farnham there was sun then hail.

BTM sorry about mum

Stropps - so what can they do?

Crem??? hello?? YOu okay?

I had a fab meal (and cocktails - I know, I know, school night and all) last night and am going to crawl through today before heading south to the parents. Collecting ds tomorrow from in-laws and then the usual round of museums etc. (braces purse for the pounding it will take....)

QQ being a lone parent is bloody hard, but it did have its compensations…. antisocial person that I am sometimes I haven't been alone for over 20 years now but I still miss my space.

Stropps that's pants. So sorry for your chronic pain. Surely something can be done….what about seeing a really good orthopaedic surgeon?

Tilly I was similarly naive the first time I had cider…just thought it was Appletize with a kick. Shortly after, I was flying…. Glad you had a lovely time with a friend after they trials of DM's diagnosis.

BD is it you whose DParents live up the road from where I grew up? Can't remember….

Cremo if you're reading, we are all hoping you are doing well xx

I am taking the DC to the Palladium see 'Cats' matinee later…. Homework and revision this morning. At least the sun is shining but it's bloody freezing. Brrrrr

Apropos of nothing, my sister has sent me a joke, told to her by her older son:

My friend gave me an elephant to keep in my room. I said thank you. He said don't mention it....

This is bringing me considerable joy today.

MI, that's brilliant.

Re: my back isshoos - I'm thinking positive and going with believing that now that I know what's wrong, I can manage it with physio. The problem looks to be that my GP's wrong diagnosis (after not examining me properly) made things worse. My mother (retired physio) told me several years ago that she thought I had degenerative disc disease. GP completed rubbished this and told me to look up stretches for piriformis syndrome, which being a diligent and faintly (ahem) obsessive person, I did. I did the exercises every day and made my back worse, as I stretched bits that I shouldn't have been stretching, according to the physio that I saw on Monday. I am far too stoical and also tend to think I'm in the wrong all the time, so I didn't challenge the GP on this until the pain got extreme and had been going on for months. (I've not been able to lie flat for a decade!) Silly me. I have muscle wastage on my left side, despite all the exercise I do. I had noticed many times over the last year that my left side hasn't been behaving as it should when I was at circuits. Just thought it was one of those things. I find it increasingly difficult to know when to accept stuff as a standard part of ageing and when to say "Hmm, this isn't right, I should ask someone about this and insist on getting a definitive answer." I also believe that the system these days doesn't react unless you crawl into the surgery on your hands and knees, especially if you have any kind of anxiety diagnosis, as I do. I doubt I would even get a referral for a scan to check the extent of the damage until I've done my physio exercises for a couple of months.

Never mind. I now know that the hours of driving and sitting that I do every Tuesday have probably contributed to it getting worse this year. I shall be diligent about doing my exercises 3 times a day and hope that this will help. Trying not to resent the fact that I've been waiting on an NHS physio referral since Feb half-term but had to go private and spend £35 we can't afford to see the person I would have seen at the local hospital. I am not a big blubber, but I was in tears several times last week with the pain and just had to get an appointment ASAP as all the GP did was give me prescription meds and tell me to annoy the clinic at the hospital until they gave me a cancellation appointment.

Stropps, my lovely, if there is anyone I can investigate/pester please let me know.

I find it increasingly difficult to know when to accept stuff as a standard part of ageing and when to say "Hmm, this isn't right, I should ask someone about this and insist on getting a definitive answer."

I reckon we are v much victims of a culture that despises older women. So most of the time stuff can be done, but we live with this enforced belief that no, it's just our bodies falling to bits.

(Apart from eyes. Eyes are pathetic. Past 40 they just give up. Admittedly they have cells formed when we are in the womb and which never regenerate, but it's still bloody annoying.)

Oh Stropps, how horrible and frustrating feel and for you. My friend who I was out with last night is a physio and she says there are massive staff shortages nor just in her hospital. In fact she is interviewing this morning.
Oh and apparently paracetamol doesn't help with back pain as reported on the Beeb this morning, but lifestyle changes do

Glad to be on the train home, but have a load of tasks to do when I get back.

Stropps, so sorry about your back. I have disk degeneration, quite mild, and only really discovered after I hassled for a physio referral and then the physio, bless her, sent me for an MRI in January (no way the GP would have sprung for that). In my case it was combining with my inflammatory tendencies to cause a lot of pain - the inflammation flare up I had at the end of last year was quite a bad one so by the time I got to the physio I was in a right old state. She asked me to do a bridge and I couldn't get my bum even an inch off the couch. However, the physio has helped massively as does pilates (need to find a new class near me as my old one is a real schlepp now) plus my flare up has improved so the back is not too bad these days - manageable for sure. Given that I had considered trying everything from surgery to getting addicted to codeine to buying some gravity boots (I still quite want some of those) it's been encouraging to realise there are things that can help. It is a bummer though and I sympathise massively - there is something about the word degenerative that makes you just want to buy a zimmer and give up. But it is definitely not too late to build muscle back and protect the areas that are a bit iffy - glad you're seeing a physio, maybe they can refer you for a scan?

MI - that joke is priceless.

In S&B news, I got the 2 Cos sweaters - they are lovely. Might have to keep them both. The silk front one, as QQ said, is very flimsy, but I need it as a smart work top and if you regard it as a silk top with a bit of knit on it, rather than a sweater with a silk front, it makes more wardrobe sense. I am desperate for work trousers, but am hoping to find some in NY - Anne Taylor, here I come!

Crem - how are you doing? Thinking of you.

Thanks for the sympathy, Crepesters - and thank you very much for the info about your situation, Wilbur. Glad to hear things are so much better for you now. Re: the depressing name of the condition - after I'd had a little Google, I decided it was not necessarily as bad as it sounded, no matter how bad the current pain. It seems to be a bit of an umbrella term and doesn't mean things will necessarily get worse. The new physio exercises appear to be making a huge difference already. Can totally relate to the not-getting-one's-bum-an-inch-off-the-couch. I will work on doing my exercises as much as possible and hopefully feel tougher and less pain-raddled very soon. I am going to go and have a few words with the GP and will see if either he or the physio will refer me for a scan, because all things considered, I would quite like to know what the exact score is. Not sure if one is allowed to feel like that, though. If the physio works, they will probably tell me to get stuffed on that score.

Too many scores...

And BTM, the very best of luck with getting through your to-do list when you get home. Hope all is calm there and you'll not have to deal with any teen hoo-hah.

Hello creped crusaders (thread titles passim)

I have been taking succour and sending healing/calming vibes in a lurking capacity since the end of term. I send more now for BTM's return, Strops' upwards back trajectory and other matters.

Wilbur you need these pilates people pm me if you'd like any specifics/teacher recs.

DD's had friendly chat this morning about how they got on the least well of any siblings they know. (And don't I know it.) Was so much easier when you could park them in playschemes in the hols. Trying to work around them the last few days has been bringing me out in.... swearing. I will have to plan more/make them plan more in the summer. Main problem is my 10yo thinks she's a teen and won't go to playschemes but can't really be left on her own.

Our train is stuck outside Watford. Person jumped in front of us. Poor driver.

Hope you see this Wilbur - I have PM'D you.

WAF, I see your 10 year old and raise my 11 year old.

I have finished writing about health economics (scary) and am researching a feature on rehab (vision, not drugs, but have Amy W now firmly in my head).

I am back. Only 7 1/2 hours later.

Still, it could have been worse. I could have been the poor girl in tears next to me because she was going to miss her only nursing interview.

Or I could have been the person who flung themselves in front of the train.

I'm in Norf London (just up from you Rosebag) and the journey wasn't too bad....

Early night I feel.

BTM grim...

Sorry about your dreadful journey BTM, but yes, it could have been worse. Hope you had something good to read.

WAF - that is EXACTLY what I need, how brilliant, thank you. Have never tried a reformer class, but will sign up with them the moment the dcs are back in school. Planning to look like the slim, fit ladeez in perfect workout outfits on the site by the summer....